The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

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I started with GIMP, and after some while my family bought the PS CS4, so that I'm mostly using it, even though I use GIMP sometimes. I'd say you should start with what you have in your hands at the moment, and considering the amount of tutorials here, I'd say you should start with GIMP (or PS if you own it, since they are very similar in using and on the tools).

For now I just need something not overly complicated to make a continent for the purposes of taking a continent and adding in more detailed topography and cites and so on, and also as a way to show how topographical naming and city naming works.

For now I just need something not overly complicated to make a continent for the purposes of taking a continent and adding in more detailed topography and cites and so on, and also as a way to show how topographical naming and city naming works.

Really it depends. Maybe raster graphics would work better for you, maybe vector graphics, maybe both. For labelling in particular, a vector graphics editor is a good idea. But there is a lot to maps beyond graphics. A map is not just a pretty picture. It's really more of a matter of understanding what a map is, and what it's for than a matter of software. Once you understand maps, software is still quite important, particularly with real life geography. (To be fair, I make a living by writing geography software so I'd have to take that position). GISes, or simpler tools like G.Projector are useless without that understanding though.

I'd recommend at a minimum, you try both GIMP (Raster) and Inkscape (Vector). Maybe you'll like one way of doing things, maybe the other, and maybe you'll find both together the right way to go. Maybe you'll prefer other particular software, but those two should give you an idea of what to look for. G.Projector is also worth a look; even if you don't understand it, it should give you an idea what kind of a mess you can get into if you draw a map as being "flat" without any concern for the curvature of the globe.

I believe that Photoshop is good for start, coz you can find a lots of tutos in the net to help you operate the software. I tried Gimp ( i am begginer ) had some problems trying to find info for some specific situations.